Burgos information
The Ribera del Duero
This region is situated in the meridian extreme
of the province of Burgos and bathed by the Duero, which crosses
it and supports it. It is a land of noble and old wines, vast
undulating hills forming the landscape, and the wide, flat valley
of the Duero, furrowed by the river which fertilises the low-lying
land, under a sun that kisses the extensive vineyards and shines
silvery on the horizon. A natural frontier between the Christian
kingdoms of the north and the Moslems of the south in the far-off
days of the Reconquest, its lands store a dense history and its
churches and monasteries keep a rich artistic heritage.
Land of Wines
One of the most important vine-growing areas in the world, not
just in Castile and Leon, extends around the river Duero, from
the lands of Soria and Burgos, passing through the North of the
province of Segovia, to Valladolid.
Of the four provinces, the most extensive one is, undoubtedly,
Burgos, washed by the Duero from East to West, and whose "Denominación
de Origen" Ribera del Duero includes sixty municipalities.
A continental climate, an average height above sea level of 800
metres and with a rich and fertile alluvium and clayey soil, have
created the right habitat for the Red of the Country, the main
variety of the area -from the same stock as the Tempranillo grape-,
which gives colour, aroma and body to the excellent red wines
of the Ribera del Duero. To a lesser extent, the musts of the
varieties Cabernet-Sauvignon, Merlot and Malbec -the three of
French origin- complement the basis for the rich wines, as well
as the more rustic Garnacha with a stronger colour and the Albillo
or White of the Country.
The Ribera del Duero reds are strongly-coloured wines, with purple
iridescence, a very delicate and penetrating aroma and mildly
acid. The roses are subtle in colour, fruity, fresh and light
in the mouth.